Magic Johnson joins a new team: Owners

By Todd Leopold, CNN

Updated 9:50 AM ET, Wed April 4, 2012

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Magic Johnson – Being a major league athlete -- even a superstar major league athlete -- is no guarantee of success at major league team ownership. As one of the new owners of the Los Angeles Dodgers, though, basketball great Magic Johnson is going to give it a shot. Here are a few of his colleagues who made the crossover, for better or worse:

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Connie Mack – The "Tall Tactician" owned part or all of the Philadelphia A's from the team's founding in 1901 until 1954, when he sold the team to Arnold Johnson. Before his ownership stint, Connie Mack had an 11-year career as a catcher in the National League. Thanks to his 50 years of managing the A's -- and two years managing the Pirates in the 1890s -- he holds major league managing records for games won and lost.

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George Halas – Though far from a superstar, George Halas played in 12 Major League Baseball games in 1919. The next year, he joined the Decatur Staleys football team. In 1921, he bought the squad and moved it to Chicago, where it became the Bears. For several years, "Papa Bear" was everything -- owner, player, coach, manager and ticket-seller -- and stayed on as coach long after his playing days ended. His family still controls the team.

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Rogers Hornsby – The Hall of Fame hitter bought a portion of the St. Louis Cardinals in 1925 and became the team's manager. At the end of 1926, fresh off a world championship, he became embroiled in a contract dispute with owner Sam Breadon and was traded to the Giants. The National League president said Hornsby couldn't own stock in one team while playing for another, and Hornsby was forced to sell.

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Jerry Richardson – Though the Carolina Panthers owner had a short NFL career, it was a memorable one. As a Baltimore Colt, he caught a touchdown pass in the 1959 NFL championship game, the Colts' second straight title. And then, upset with his contract, he walked away to open a fast-food restaurant named Hardee's. More than 30 years later, a millionaire many times over, he bought into the NFL.

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Mario Lemieux – In 1999, the hockey Hall of Famer was the bankrupt Pittsburgh Penguins' biggest creditor. Mario Lemieux turned the situation to his advantage, buying the team, keeping it in Pittsburgh and returning to play for it until 2006, when he retired. Thanks to an influx of good players, especially Sidney Crosby, the team won a Stanley Cup in 2009.

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Wayne Gretsky – Fellow NHL star Wayne Gretzky has had a rougher ride than his old rival Lemieux. After the Great One became a part-owner of the Phoenix Coyotes in 2001, the team struggled in the standings -- even more after Gretzky became coach in 2005. Amid financial turmoil, he stepped down as coach and owner in 2009.

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Michael Jordan – Greatest of all time? Maybe as a player -- six championship rings and all that -- but as the owner of the Charlotte Bobcats, Jordan has had to watch his team go from a playoff berth in 2010 to a 7-43 record this season. He recently released a statement saying he's not thinking of selling the club.

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Cal Ripken Jr. – It's a bit of a cheat -- Cal Ripken Jr. doesn't own any Major League teams -- but the renowned former Oriole, known for his robust work ethic and his consecutive games streak, oversees three Minor League teams: the Aberdeen (Maryland) IronBirds, the Augusta (Georgia) GreenJackets and the Charlotte (Florida) Stone Crabs.

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Nolan Ryan – The greatest strikeout pitcher of all time, with seven no-hitters and 324 wins to his credit, became the owner of the Texas Rangers in 2010 after serving two years as team president. The club has won two straight American League pennants and is a widely touted playoff favorite in 2012.

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Story highlights

Magic Johnson becomes one of the rare team athletes to become a team owner

Professional players have had a mixed record when they have turned to team ownership

"We're going to work hard to bring them a winning team and a great fan experience," Johnson told the ESPN program. The 2012 baseball season officially opens Wednesday, though two teams played games last week in Japan.

The owner's box has traditionally been occupied by the likes of oil tycoons, real estate barons, old-money industrialists and high-tech millionaires. Even in these times of athletes making eight-figure salaries, it's rare for professional players to move from the playing field to the executive suite, observes Richard Davies, a sports historian and professor at the University of Nevada, Reno.

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Among those who have made the jump: Michael Jordan (part owner of the Charlotte Bobcats), Mario Lemieux (who has a major piece of the NHL Pittsburgh Penguins) and Nolan Ryan (principal owner of baseball's Texas Rangers).

There's also historical precedent. Connie Mack, a onetime journeyman catcher, owned baseball's Philadelphia Athletics for more than 50 years; he was also the team's manager and primary executive. George Halas, who played a handful of games for baseball's New York Yankees, took a job with the A.E. Staley starch company of Decatur, Illinois, after his hardball career ended in 1919; a year later he took control of the company-sponsored football team, which became the NFL's Chicago Bears. His family still owns the team today.

No guarantee of success

Johnson may find out that big-league experience counts for little in his new profession.

Mack had some good runs as A's owner -- particularly in the beginning -- but his teams suffered greatly after post-championship fire sales in 1915 and the early 1930s. In the last 20 years of his ownership, the team finished last 10 times. In those days, there were no multimillion-dollar television revenue streams to provide a rebuilding nest egg; the team almost went bankrupt in the early '50s.

But it's not like all the 21st-century perks that teams get these days -- TV money, luxury suites, sponsorships -- have helped some players turn their athletic expertise into ownership triumph.

The legendary hockey player Wayne Gretzky became a part owner of the Phoenix Coyotes in 2001. Even after Gretzky took over as head coach, the team struggled. It declared bankruptcy in 2009, and Gretzky stepped down as coach and owner that fall.

Jordan bought the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats in 2010. On Sunday, with the team in the midst of a horrific season, Jordan put out a statement that he was "100% committed to building the Bobcats into a contender" and has "no plans to sell the team."

Johnson's already a proven businessman, having built Magic Johnson Enterprises into a $500 million-plus operation with movie theaters and Starbucks franchises, according to Forbes. He said he's committed to being the public face of the team and making the Dodgers the talk of Southern California again.

Mike Veeck, who's a partner in seven minor league baseball teams, said he thinks Johnson can provide exactly the magic the storied Dodgers need.

"They couldn't pick a better front guy," Veeck said. "I think this is a tremendous opportunity for both the fans and for him. I think baseball (fans) are clamoring for a face -- for somebody they feel who is on their side or one of them."

Can Johnson just use his magic?

Veeck knows something about bringing fans to the ballpark, using a "fun is good" mantra for such promotions as groundskeepers dragging the field in drag, massage-giving nuns and "VHS Demolition Night."

He's the son of the late, legendary major league owner Bill Veeck, who gave Chicago's old Comiskey Park its exploding scoreboard, hired 3-foot-7-inch Eddie Gaedel for an at-bat and won pennants with the 1948 Cleveland Indians and 1959 Chicago White Sox. The '48 Indians set an attendance record that was surpassed just twice in the next 30 years -- both times by the Dodgers.

Mike Veeck urges Johnson to listen to the fans by hosting town hall meetings and making frequent appearances.

"Now we have a chance for a legitimate hero on several planes to say, 'Let's get in this together,' " he said. "The most important thing is to involve them."

And once the Dodgers have re-established a customer-friendly reputation, then Johnson can tap into the benefits of Hollywood, Veeck suggested. "We're celebrity-driven. At first blush I'd name every night of the season after some (star) and almost dare them not to come!" he laughed.

There are never any guarantees in sports, of course. The Dodgers may have been overpriced, hurting future bottom lines. The ownership group dynamics may change. (When he bought the New York Yankees, George Steinbrenner said he'd be a hands-off owner; years later, one of his minority partners, John McMullen, offered the classic observation that "there is nothing quite so limited as being a limited partner of George Steinbrenner's.")